've often said, our brain is an absolutely amazing organ! Even in the confines of our disease, it's still amazes us... Remember what I've said before - In PD we can lose almost 60-90% of our dopamine-producing cells (Substantia Nigra) before a Parkinson's patient even begins to notice symptoms...
Those of you who know me know that I am a big 'Peanuts' fan.... Peanuts is the comic strip written by the late Charles M. Schultz, and I've been reading…
If you have been close to a Parkinson patient, I know you have heard them mention being 'On' or 'Off'.... and maybe you have wondered exactly what they mean by this... "On? Like a light-bulb? They aren't glowing, that's for sure!"...
Today I am implementing one of the things I said I would do with my new blog format - and that is introduce some 'guest' bloggers! Although I try my best to give you my thoughts, knowledge, and research that I've done, I'll be the first to say that I don't know everything! Plus, what I tell you is MY experience; but it is always good to get someone else's perspective and experience, as they may have gone or going through things that I haven't had experience with. So, learning from these wonderful folks is a good thing! ...
"What?? Tom's giving away Raspberry Pie? Cool!! I'll take... wait a minute, bub - that doesn't look anything like pie to me!!" Yes, I don't think eating a circuit board…
I'm continuing my series on Parkinson's lessor-known (or what I call illegitimate children) symptoms. So what will we be discussing today? Something that is probably familiar with most Parkies out there - including myself, yet isn't discussed as much as it should be, and that is...
"What? We Parkies can get free Frisbees, you say? Cool!" No, no no... I said FREEBIES, not Frisbees!! Listen up now, people!!
"Puttering? What the heck does that mean? Playing golf? Are we supposed to go golfing in order to help with our Parkinson's symptoms??" Hey, I understand the confusion. Puttering isn't really a word, I don't think ...
Well, here we go with the second part of this series! Bet you are wondering what less-talked about symptoms I'll be discussing today, huh? Drum roll, please... In today's post…
What is a 'handicap'? If we look it up, the definition goes like this: "A physical or mental disability making participation in certain of the usual activities of daily living more difficult". Well, I think we can all agree that Parkinson's Disease definitely can fall into that definition! However ...
I recently read an article from a fellow Parkinson's blogger, Allison (The Perky Parkie) which had an impact on me. The article spoke of an individual who was in a therapy session with her; he'd experienced a traumatic brain injury due to an auto accident and was trying to 'come to grips' ...
Now there's a title! Actually, I was going to call this by another name - the one associated with someone who's parents were not married when he/she was born - but I decided that might not make it through the family Internet 'screeners'... So we'll stick with illegitimate! So what does this mean? By this I mean Parkinson's lesser-known symptoms - those symptoms that are common but no one really talks about much - those 'hush hush' symptoms. A lot of us have these issues, but I've found they are not understood well and are very under-reported...
60? 60 what, you are probably thinking... 60 miles? 60 minutes? 60 chocolate glazed donuts? No, what I am referring to is years - you see, last month was my…
I started thinking about what is must be like living with someone that has Parkinson's - be it my wife or someone's care partner. I'm sure it's not only stressful, but probably rather humorous at times....
I am constantly amazed at - well, how can I put this mildly - the lack of common sense in some folks out there. (None of my readers, of course!) But some folks... well, you just wonder, were they raised in the back-country by wolves?? Where in the heck did they learn to drive? Or were they raised the same way they seem to be raising their kids? ...
Isn't that how some books and stories continue? Well, in the same way, this last Sunday, September 10, was exactly six months to the day that I had my DBS implant surgery done! So... in this short blog posting I thought I would give a quick update on how things are going, along some advice for anyone else considering the surgery...
I remember when my closest niece was born. My wife got the call and headed up north to help out and, well, just be there. (I, unfortunately, had to work. Oh joy...). Well, this little red-haired baby, whom I've watched grow up into a beautiful young lady, started college this week, along with my other niece. And my first thought was, "Good grief, what happened to the time?!? It was only yesterday I was a good looking (ha!) 20-something young man! What happened!!" Then I look in the mirror and yes, I know what happened! ...
So I've been retired now about six months - early, yes, but retired. I've often thought of the day when I can finally not have to do anything work related. Get up whenever I like, go where and when I please, take a nap anytime I want to, and so on...